The Guys
by TheSilverDragoon
Summary: Ash and Gary re-kindle their friendship in Sinnoh, and with Paul's defeat in the sinnoh league, now being a friend to Ash. What happens when Drew, from Johto, asks the 3 to travel around the world, trying to become the strongest in the world by participating in this event? The answer? Anything.
1. Ash and Paul, Gary and Drew

Hey, this is a new story ill be posting, hope you guys like this! Enjoy the fic

The guys

When Ash and Gary re-kindle their friendship in Sinnoh, and with Paul's defeat in the sinnoh league, now being a friend to Ash. So what happens when Drew, from Johto, asks the 3 to travel around the world, trying to become the strongest group? The answer? Anything.

It was a normal day in Sinnoh, and after Ash's loss to Tobias, training was the next thing on his agenda.

"Ash, unlucky loss. Wanna train later? My team needs to get stronger too, im not settling for the top 4" Paul said.

After the epic clash between the two, they both become to understand how the other trains, and accepts that they are doing what they think is right to improve their strength of the pokemon, and the bond between pokemon and trainer.

"Sure, let's do it, I got near to the tio, I can't stop now!" Ash answers back, his enthusiasm back in his step as he stands up next to Paul, preparing for the battle.

However, the battle is about to get postponed, as in the pokemon centre, out of a group of green phones, one rings, to which will change what they do next.

Ash glances a look at Paul, but by the look on the laters face, he decides to answer the phone himself.

Ash pickes up the phone, and Paul comes to the screen, curious at who could be ringing.

"Hey Ash, who's this?" The caller asks him, wondering who the new person was to Ash's list of friends.

"Oh, Drew, good to hear from you, this is Paul, we battled in the semi-finals, he's a strong pokemon trainer, maybe you should watch your back" Ash jokes, whilst a green haired boy glares at him.

"Well anyway Paul, im Drew, I used to know Ash when we were both in Hoenn, wanna battle? I can't let Ash get away with what he said. Want to know who is stronger?" Drew says, eager to see what the 'new guy' has got.

A smirk appears on Pauls face.

'I can take him, we got into the top 4, and the only way to get better is to face strong opponents' Paul thought to himself.

"Alright, I accept, pick a time and place, im ready" Paul states to the Co-ordinator.

A chuckle appears from Drew, and answers back.

"I like your style, outside your pokemon centre, tomorrow noon, ill be ready, so you should be too" Drew replies.

Ash decides to re-join the conversation, curious as to Drew's whereabouts.

"So, where are you now Drew? In Johto still?" Ash asks curiously.

A smile has emerged on Drews face.

"Right now, me and Gary are in Johto, going to the Sinnoh league's pokemon centre, to meet up with you guys, we want to ask you both something, im sure you will be interested." Drew smirks, knowing they are interested with what he said.

And he was correct, as both Paul and Ash were currently storing the information, wondering what could be so important to be agreeing, before even knowing what would happen. And Ash, being the impatient one of the two, starts bombarding the questions through the phone.

"Your coming here? Gary is with you? Whats so great about what you have to say. Answer me Drew!" Ash yells down he phone, trying to get Drew to reply with what he wants to know.

However, a new voice enters the conversation, one which two of the three know very well.

"Well Ashy-boy, how about we tell you tomorrow, its easier than over the phone, and its pretty late, we have a ferry to get in a few hours, to get to Sinnoh at lunchtime, we will see you then, bye guys." Gary explains, then hanging up the conversation.

And as night was slowly falling and the sky was becoming darker, Ash follows Paul down the corridors to Pauls room, and they both enter, without a word being said.

Pauls current room was a basic Pokemon Centre room. It had a single bed, with a night stand, currently having a pokedex on it and a town map, and on the right of the bed was a small arm chair.. To the left of that was a window, with the top part open, allowing a cool, relaxing breeze into the room.

As they enter, paul leans against the wall of the room, and Ash decides to sit in the chair, both pondering about what to say. What was there to say? They just had to wait until they came tomorrow.

"So Paul, we wait until tomorrow, and then make our decision?" Ash asks, breaking the silence in the room.

"Yeah, thats right, get some sleep, tomorrow may be important, it is for me, at least" Paul answers.

Ash knew he was talking about the battle with Drew, so Ash decided to leave. But before leaving, with his back turned to the room.

"Good luck man, he may be a co-ordinator, but his pokemon have power, watch yourself" Ash explains to the Sinnoh trainer.

"Thanks for that, I will see you tomorrow" Paul replies, as he moves to lie on the bed, getting himself comfy. "Now, get out of my room" Paul replies, with a friendly laugh. In which Ash joins in after realising the friendly behaviour.

"Im out ok?" Ash laughs. "Night Paul"

Ash walks out of the room into his own.

Ash's room looked much like Paul's. In fact, it was identical, all rooms were the same, exept Ash's had a small yellow pokemon sleeping on the tail of the bed.

'I wonder whats going on, tomorrows gonna be one hell of a day, I should sleep, ill probably need all my energy'. Ash thought, slowly drifting off into a slumber.

"Night Pikachu" Ash says quelty to his partner.

"Piika (Night Ash)" The electric pokemon replied.

And with that, everyone was waiting for what tomorrow has in store.

A/N :Well, thats the introduction complete, hope you guys liked it, I'd like to know what you all think, if the idea is good or not. Other chapters will be longer and more interested, i just needed to show the basics of them being friends etc. But after this, the plot will be more interesting.

Thanks for reading!


	2. Two Becomes Four

Well, here is the second chapter, sorrry for it taking so long. I've been really busy, so story progress may be a bit slower, so sorry in advance. Anyway, enjoy the new chapter!

The Guys - Chapter 2 -Two becomes four.

As morning finally arrives in the Sinnoh region, the sky is a light blue, the low breeze blowing the tree's, rustling the leaves which are held by the strong branches, and the grass, wet with dew and swaying from the wind.

And with the next day after the Sinnoh league one of the many competitors wakes up.

It's Paul, one of the trainers achieving the top 8 round, being knocked out by his rival; Ash Ketchum.

As he prepares himself for the day, he takes the key, his bag, the pokeballs and leaves , his thoughts now roll on to Drew, and an interest in the trainer from Hoenn.

'Im against Drew later, Ill need to get my team ready. I should prepare for anything.' Paul thought to himself, perparing for his pokemon battle, not wanting to lose to a boy he was about to meet later that day.

Of course, this would be no easy battle, even though Drew is a co-ordinator, his attacks are still powerful, and the skills and evasion he can use, whilst making his pokemon look better, are also deadly on a battlefield at any time.

But Paul is no pushover either. In constant training with pokemon, trying to get them stronger, he has realised that limits only exist to be exeeded, and that each of his pokemon have the ability to be even stronger, to be even more powerful than before, and with this power at his hand, being hit by an attack from a pokemon he contains, isnt easy to deal with from a trainer of any calibre.

Paul decides to leave his room and enter the main area of the pokemon centre, going to a pokemon transport machine to trade some of his party pokemon with Reggie; his brother.

And after a few pokemon transfers and some very small, small talk, the conversation is coming to an end.

"Thanks Reg." Paul says as he places the phone on the holder, resulting in the conversation ending and the boy walking away from the machine.

Paul heads out off the pokemon centre, training his pokemon a bit more. 'What went wrong'. Paul asks himself, not wanting to make the same mistake twice.

"This Drew guy could be powerful, I should prepare for anything. Lets start with this.." Paul mutters to himself quietly, quickly thinking of his plan of action.

"Aggron, standby!" Paul shouts, launching the pokeball, containing aggron, into the air.

"Drapion, join the fight" Paul exclaims also, making the duo battle.

"Drapion, go! Poison Jab!" Paul commands.

Drapion, attacks aggron agressively, trying to boost the rock types defensive power.

And the training continues.

Meanwhile...

YAWN

The noise comes from a raven haird boy, with a pikachu.

Pikachu wakes up, stretching after being moved abruptly by its trainer.

Pikachu jumps from the bed, and sits comfortably on the floor of Ash's room.

"Morning Pikachu, let's go downstairs, see where Paul is. But knowing him, he is training hard outside. He takes everything seriously." Ash says, laughing at what he last said.

"Pika!" The mouse pokemon exclaims, whilst chuckling lightly.

Ash gets changed and heads to the cafeteria for breakfast.

As Ash eats his breakfast, Paul returns from training, and gets something to eat, who then sits opposite of Ash by one seat, being opposite Pikachu.

"Im ready for our battle, you better be watching." Paul says with seriousness, but with a small grin on his face.

"I wouldn't miss this. It will be a close battle, I don't know who will win, your styles are too different" Ash explains, whilst trying to compare the two trainers who will battle later that day.

"Our styles are different? Thats irrelevant. I know my pokemon can perform under pressure, thats what ive been training them like from square one, this will be a good battle, but not a difficult one, sure a player changes with personality, but its not how a style is better than another, its the power the pokemon has to work with that style that seperates the pro's and the amatuers." Paul explains to him, stating his point across.

"Maybe. I have a main style, and then adapt to the moment, because if you don't know what your thinking, your opponent definetly can't, until its too late." Ash replies.

'Thats how I beat you, I used pokemon you know well, and changed, sticking in one place too long, you will eventually get caught out, lets hope he realises this before its too late, Drews graceful style may cause a few problems on the battlefield." Ash thinks to himself deeply.

The automatic doors open. And two boys entered, not by suprise. As they were expected by a pair waiting in the very same building.

"Well, well, we meet again at last" Gary says. To the duo sitting eating breakfast.

Drew and Gary walk up to the table, facing Ash, and sit on one of the chairs to the table of 8.

Paul turns, to see who is talking to them. Finding a brown haired boy, who he currently doesn't know, and the boy he met yesterday on the phone, with the challenge.

"Gary, Drew, nice to see you guys" Ash responds eagerly, finally seeing two of his old friends.

"Yeah, Ash, likewise, how ar-" Paul interupts Gary.

"You ready" Paul asks his direction from Gary to his challenger. Drew.

"Of course, lets do this." Drew replies, just as quick, both anticipating this battle, waiting to see which pokemon will come out on top. After all, out of the 4, who is the strongest?

As Drew and Paul walk to the battle field, Drew walking confidently, and Paul with his signature steps with his right hand in his pocket.

'Hmm, I think ill use...yeah, and, maybe.. for sure! This has gotta work' Drew thinks to himself. With Paul also thinking of some pokemon that would give him the highest chances of winning.

'Well, I don't think Aggron is ready yet, he could still be improved. Ill just have to use some of the other 5 I have right now. Ill need speed and power, hmm... perfect' The Sinnoh trainer thinks, whilst smirking.

Ash and Gary, whilst in small conversation, follow to the sidelines, Ash on the left of the Referee's square, where Gary is currently situated.

"This is a 3 vs 3 knockout match. The battle is over when one trainer has no pokemon able to continue. Questions?" Gary asks, looking at both trainers, and when there was no answer from either...

"Let the battle begin!" Gary shouts, then preparing to watch the interesting battle that is about to unfold.

Oooh, Drew and Paul are finally about to get things started. Who Will win? Which pokemon will be used? Find out in the next chapter of The Guys : Paul vs Drew!

Hey guys, this is IMPORTANT. So far, the 4 dont have full teams. Ash and Drew need 2 pokemon. Gary and Paul only need 1, its your choice on who to pick, can be anime or random (yet reasonable). So give your answers in a PM or add it to the end of the review, thanks :)


	3. Paul vs Drew!

The guys

Hey guys, here's the next chapter, its a battle, so read and enjoy :)

Drew vs Paul!

Gary said the words. The battle had begun.

Who would be victorious?

"Drapion. Stand-by for battle!" Paul yells, throwing the pokeball into the air, releasing drapion.

Drapion stood strong, with his purple pincers out wide with its menacing glare, looking ready to do some damage to his opponent.

"A drapion, well then..Absol, time to shine!" Drew exclaims, launching the pokeball into the air releasing his dark type pokemon.

Absol glared towards drapion, getting in its battle stance.

The two waited for commands, who would make the first impact on the battle?

"Absol, razor wind." Drew says calmly, keeping his cool against his oponent, thinking things through, rather than going in head strong.

The wind cut through the air directly towards Pauls Drapion at a high speed.

"Poison jab" Paul commands.

Drapion fights back against the air, and with the poison pokemons power, is successful and takes no damage from Drew's attack.

Both have a smile of confidence, waiting for the next set of attacks to appear.

However, Paul makes no counter, and waits patiently.

"Ok, wait all you want, we will stick to attacking. Absol, razor wind, then run and use crunch!" Drew commands, using his knowledge of contests to try and take the sinnoh native off guard.

"Dodge the razor wind, then use toxic spikes" Paul instructs.

Drapion moves quickly away from the air attack, then layers the field in toxic spikes, which results in Absol falling into, and becoming poisoned.

"No, Absol!" Drew calls out, realising the damage had been done. And that absol will take damage throughout the battle the longer it lasts.

"Lets finnish this quickly. Flash!" Drew yells.

Light is being illuminated from his pokemon, covering the field in a harsh light.

"Drapion, fire pin missile everywhere." Paul says, as the pokemon fires the attack in any and every direction.

'Not bad Drew, but even if we can't see you, pin missile has a chance of hitting.'

"Jump absol, now water pulse!" Drew continues with the combination attack, finally catching the purple haired trainer off guard.

'A water attack? From a dark pokemon? How is that?' Paul thinks, however whilst thinking, he comes to a realisation, and yells.

The flash attack fades away, revealing the state of both pokemon.

"Oh no! Drapion!" Paul screams, even though knowing it was too late, the damage had been given.

Drapion was down, with scratches and marks from the battle. But slowly stands back up, joining absol, preparing to continue.

Absol stands, but then a purple light engulfs it. And it screeches in pain.

A few seconds later, the dark pokemon is gritting its teeth, and the purple light has faded from its body.

However, the same process happens again, and the purple once more, surrounds absol.

'That poison is continously doing damage, this next attack will end it, it has too!' Drew thought, thinking how to end this, before giving Paul the upper hand.

"Alright, to the offencive drapion, lets go, pin missile!" Paul commands, finally moving drapion from a defensive position.

The white missiles leave the poison pincers of drapion, and head towards absol.

"Wipe them all out with flash, then one last razor wind!" Drew yells, the intensity of the situation getting to him.

The pokemon were running out of energy. The pressure was building, the damage was increasing. The time was running out. It was time to act!

The flash destroys the pin missile. The visibility for both trainers had gone.

It was Absols razor wind vs drapions instinct.

Which would be more powerful?

Paul takes matters into his own hands, and commands a move for drapion, one last chance. Drapions arms glow a purple, however, no damage was taken.

This was an attack.

Cross poison, a devastating attack, which is a huge problem to its opponent, which was absol.

Cross poison is unleashed. It flies straight ahead. Did It hit? No-one knows, the flash was still in affect, nothing could be seen.

The wind hit Drapion, and it goes flying. When it hits the ground, the outcome, however. was still not known.

Paul notices the light slowly disspapears, seeing a severely damaged absol, barely standing on its own legs, trying to continue, but it had a smirk on its face. Why?

But Paul should be more concered about his pokemon.

He turns, to his left, noticing the poision pokemon was down. Drew had won round one..

"Drapion is unable to battle" Gary clarifies.

Or so he thought.

"Wait" Paul interrupted.

The purple light engulfed the dark pokemon again, absol could not stand the strain of the damage poision was doing to him, and his front legs buckled.

Absol had also fallen.

"The match is a draw, both Drew and Paul's pokemon are unable to continue. Please select your second pokemon" Gary announces.

"You fought well, absol, good job." Drew states, getting absols pokeball and returning it to the sphere.

"Nice try drapion, get some rest". Paul also returns his pokemon, and puts it on his belt.

So. Both had lost a large clash between Absols attack and Drapions defense. And now try to figure out the best way to with this battle, with only two pokemon.

'Hmm, Paul plays a strong defense, but a good counter attack, using the best move for the current moment, ill need to stop his plan, whilst sticking to my own strategy' Drew thought deeply. What is the best way to win?

"Well, your turn, Masquirain." Drew yells, tossing the pokeball into the air, releasing his flying pokemon.

Masquirain took its battle position, beating its small wings to stay in the same place on its trainers side of the battlefield, preparing itself for the next pokemon.

But on the otherside of the battlefield, Paul was thinking the same thing.

'A strong wave of attacks kept hitting drapion, ill need to avoid that, a counter will not work, we need to strike first. Hmm.. speed..'

"Weavile, stand by for battle!" Paul shouts, throwing the pokeball to the battlefield.

Weavile is released, materialising onto the field. Showing its fangs, attempting to intimidate the opponent.

Drew backed up slightly. 'Weaviles can jump, and with fast speed, this match will not be as easy as I thought it would be.'

"Be careful" Drew calls to his pokemon, notifying it that weavile could be a hard oponent.

'I wont lose this time' Both the competitors thought.

"I'll attack this time. No waiting around. Weavile, quick attack" Paul commands.

Weavile closes in on its opponent, wasting no time as it leapes into the air, and strikes hard to the flying pokemon.

Drew shouts towards its pokemon, hoping its okay as it falls to the ground.

'We need to turn it around, but how..' Drew thought quickly, hoping for something to come to mind.

"Quick attack, once more" Paul instructs again.

And, weavile, again, comes running in to maquirain lying on the floor.

"Get up!" Yells Drew. "Now use silver wind!"

The pokemon does as commanded, and rises from the dirt. As it does so, its wings start to flap. Slowly at first, and then the speed increases, silver wind ws being unleashed.

And heading straight to an incoming weavile.

A forceful wind hits the incoming pokemon, who is currently standing its ground against the bug type attack. But it could only last so long..

Weavile is pushed back, before losing its footing and goes flying back to its trainers feet, to then quickly stand up and prepare to fight back.

"Not bad, Drew, but Weavile is stronger than that!" Paul says, encouraging Weavile to keep going. "Now, use night slash!"

Weavile sprints towards its enemy, coliding as its dark claws hit critically against the masquirain, not expecting the quick counter.

"Your not bad either Paul, but masquirain won't lose to a move like that." Drew retaliates.

"Silver wind, once more." Drew states calmly, trying to keep his cool in the intense battle.

"Weavile, jump! Now, use ice beam!" Paul declares, trying to get some damage on the flying bug pokemon.

Both pokemon do as commanded. Masquirain stays in the air, pushing a powerful silver wind attack towards the pokemon approaching it.

Weavile again is fighting the silver wind, and tries to break through, and weavile is about lose its grip to the battlefield floor.

"Weavile, fire it now!" Paul yells. "Full power, don't hold back!"

Weavile is taking a lot of damage, but trusts Paul and fires an ice beam quickly, and un expectedly towards the bug pokemon.

Ice beam hit, smoke was over the battlefield. But no matter who was watching. Everyone was thinking.. What happened to masquirain.

The smoke subsides.

The first to be seen was Pauls Weavile, who was standing tall, ready for another round.

But the ice beam was to much for Drews pokemon, with the damage from Pauls relentless attacks, there wasn't a chance that it could have continued. And with the circles in the bug pokemons eyes. Drew had lost his second pokemon.

"Masquirain is unable to battle. Weavile is the winner." Gary announces. "Drew, select your third and final pokemon."

"No... Masquirain.." Drew trailes into a silence.

'How did he win that? I guess flying didn't give us the advantage we needed, we couldn't stop the fury of attacks. I guess there is no option now.' Drew thought.

Ash smirked, knowing who Drew would rely on to finnish this pokemon.

"Roserade, finnish this up!" Drew yells.

The pokeball was thrown, and Drews most trusted, and most powerful pokemon appeared.

"Rose-Roserade!" The grass pokemon chants, preparing itself for the battle, wanting to win this for its trainer.

"Weavile, start strong, blizzard!" Paul commands.

The temperature decreases, and a huge ammount of snow and ice is hurled at the grass type pokemon.

"Strength alone will not win you this battle. Jump roserade, then use sunny day!" Drew commands, using a contest strategy to try and negate the cold attack."

His plan works, the power of blizzard has decreased, and weavile stops the attack, knowing it can't do enough damage to stop the powerful grass type.

"Alright then, we don't need the type advantage to win, use quick attack." Paul instructs.

'We need to do alot of damage, we can't afford to give him the upper hand'

However, to Pauls dismay. He had given the upper hand to Drew when he sent weavile in to close range.

'Does he not realise yet? I have another reason for using sunny day, expecially when roserade is on the field.'

Weavile gets closer to the grass type. Preparing to do some damage against roserade.

"Well Paul, its been a good battle, and your weavile is strong, but I want to win this. So im going to finnish your second pokemon now." Drew states to his opponent.

Pauls eyes widen in realisation, realising Drews sunny day was for another purpose.

"Get awa-" Paul yells,but is interupted by Drew.

"Too late, Solarbeam!" Drew smirks. " Fire!"

And that was it. After a powerful blast at extreme close range. Weavile was unable to battle, it had already been decided before the move hit.

Drew had just tied the game, and on top of that, Roserade had taken 0 damage from weavile's assaults.

This battle had goten extremely close all of a sudden.

Paul was speechless, one of his best pokemon was defeated.

'That is one strong roserade. But that doesn't mean we do not have power either.'

"Weavile, return.." Paul calls his pokemon back. To rest in its pokeball.

"Stand by for battle" Paul calls out his final pokemon, which materialises onto the field.

The pokemon stood strong on its four legs, glaring at its oponent, waiting for its trainers commands, and defeating the roserade.

"Tor-terra!" It shouts out, preparing for battle.

The two grass type pokemon staring eachother down. Waiting for who would make the first command for the deciding battle, the last of each team. These pokemon were the last, who ever stood last after the clash they were about to have, would result in the victory of their entire team.

However, when Drew decided to try and take advantage of the battle, masquirain was unable to win. And when Paul decided to use his normal strategy, of endless power attacks, his pokemon didn't win that clash.

So who would win?

'I need to be careful, a wrong move could result in roserade taken control of the battle, and could end up like last time, we need to stick to what we know to try and get this victory.' Paul thought.

'Hmm, trying to out smart him may not work, and with sunny day still in affect for a while, we may have the advantage. I just can't afford to get to confident, or it will end up like the previous battle with masquirain and weavile.' Drew pondered.

The suns rays are still intense, and the pokemon still haven't moved.

"I can't keep waiting, use stone edge!" Paul commands. Making sure the pokemon kept a safe distance from the opposing pokemon.

The stones circled the ground/grass pokemon. Then suddenly, the rocks went soaring in the air, aiming towards roserade.

"Roserade, counter with razor leaf." Drew instructs.

Roserade sends a multitude of leafs towards the incoming attack. Both matching eachother, rock for leaf.

An small explosion occurs after the attacks collide, showing both pokemon are evenly matched.

"Leaf storm." Paul calls to his partner.

A wind appears from no where, and with it, torterra releases many leaves from the tree on his back, and the wind forces the leaves to be pelted against roserade.

The leaves scrape against Drews pokemon, causing it to be thrown back by the wind, and thud back onto the ground.

'We can't take many more of those..' Drew thought to himself. 'How can we move forward, if he keeps attacking. Even if we are evenly matched, that doesn't give us an advantage. And playing safe wouldn't work either. What should we do!?' Drew continues to think, trying to come up with an idea that could work against the Sinnoh natives best pokemon.

However, Paul was also thinking along the simular lines.

'Right now, our best option is to attack, its hard for him to do his combo's if we keep interupting them with torterra's powerful attacks'

"Torterra, frenzy plant!" Paul instructs, making his pokemon use the strongest known grass type attack.

Sunny day had slowly subsided, and the ground had begun to shake. Then, suddenly, think vines appeared, all heading into the direction of Drew's roserade.

"Not this time! Jump, then spin whilst using stun spore!" Drew commands, starting the beggining of a combination.

Roserade spun in the air, while using stun spore, causing it to be in a hollow sphere of the attack.

"Use petal dance" Drew continued.

Petal dance was released, being joined with the stun spore and being hurled towards torterra.

However, this didn't stop frenzy plant, which landed devastating damage to roserade, who then landed heavily on the ground, with many signs of low health and a lot of damage that has been taken.

But there was some good news for the Hoenn native. The petal dance did some damage to the grass turtle pokemon, and the stun spore made the pokemon paralyzed, which is bad news for Paul.

So, with Drews roserade low on health, and Torterra paralyzed, how would this affect the outcome of the battle?

'Torterra may be paralyzed, but some attacks might just work. We need to keep trying, we have a good chance of winning. A few more hits and roserade will be down.' Paul thought.

Torterra was standing idle, waiting for its next command, with jolts of electricity surroudning it, showing its state of paralysis, with its body showing some damage marks.

Roserade was breathing hard, slowly getting to its feet after the strong frenzly plant attack hit it.

The next few moments would be crucial.

"Roserade, use razor leaf, and keep it going, don't stop!" Drew yells desperatly, trying to do some damage to the opponent.

The sharp leaves kept pounding on torterra. And with the current status affect, could not move.

Paul commands torterra to use a razor leaf as soon as it can move, and able to make the attack, to make the damage stop.

However, this was not the case, and the damage continued for a few more moments.

This was straining roserade. The never-ending assault was using a lot of its energy, looking like it may defeat itself out of exhaustion.

The razor leaf stopped, and roserade lowered down to one knee.

"No roserade!" Drew calls out, worried about his pokemons health, and how the outcome of this battle seemed.

Paul grunted quietly. 'Torterra needs to get out of paralysis, we need to finnish this now!'

"Roserade, charge up solar beam, fire as soon as you can, one last attack, all or nothing!" Drew yells at the top of his lungs, commanding roserade to use the strongest move it knows.

Roserade is absorbing the suns rays, powering up its attack, but without sunny day, it will take a while.

"Torterra, charge up hyper beam!" Paul calls, praying that it will work.

The jolts of electricity are no longer on torterra.

Paul smirks.

Drew's eyes widen in realisation as an orange orb is slowly growing larger in torterra's mouth.

"Fire!" Both Paul and Drew scream, desperation clearly in their voices. The calm pair at the beggining have now turned the battle into a head on clash. It was all down to which fired first.

But then, it was undecided, the white light left the petals of roserade, firing towards torterra.

And at the same time, an orange line of energy was aiming for roserade.

The final attacks had been made.

This was it.

The attacks collided. A huge explosion was created, and a huge smoke cloud consumed the battlefield.

"Roserade!" Drew yelled.

"Torterra!" Paul exlcaimed.

Which one was standing?

The smoke had slowly started to clear, and the outline of both pokemon could be seen.

Roserade was on the ground. Not moving at all. Torterra was standing, just about, but was standing.

Drew couldn't believe it, he had lost the battle. Roserade had beaten weavile, but torterra was too much for the grass type to handle.

'No way... We lost to Paul..' Drew fell to his knee's. And his head fell.

"Rose- ro" Roserade said weakly.

Roserade was struggling a lot, and somehow it got to its knee's. And faced its head to look at its opponent, who gave a respectful grin to roserade. And in return, it smiled.

"Tor- terr-" Torterra said as it winced, and its front legs buckled. Resulting in the pokemon to hit the ground.

Roserade was the one left standing!

Paul was shocked at the out come.

"No way, torterra.." Paul looked sad, but then smiled. And as he recalled torterra back to its pokeball, he walkes over to Drew.

Drew, couldn't believe it. Roserade stood back up, to try and win the battle, and pass its own limits.

A hand was passed down to the green haired trainer.

Gary didn't need to finnish the end of the battle, everyone knew what happened. And he motions to Ash to go over to the winner.

Drew looked up. And to his suprise, it was Paul.

Drew accepts the gesture and Paul helps him to his feet.

"Great job Roserade, you continue to suprise me with your strength, take a well earned rest." Drew says, calling the pokemon back into its ball.

"Nice battle" Drew says to Paul.

"Likewise".

A/N: Thats the end, was it a good outcome? What do you guys think? Let me know.


	4. The World Battle Tournament?

The Guys - Chapter 4

The Information

After the epic battle with Paul and Drew, the four re-enter the pokemon centre. Paul and Drew go to the desk and ask for Nurse Joy, to get their pokemon healed after the damage they took during the battle.

Ash and Gary go to find four seats in the pokemon centre, and wait for the two to return to them, before telling about the news Gary and Drew have to tell them.

"Hey, we're back" Drew says, notifying both Ash and Gary.

"Well, guys. We have news that there is a new tournament being held around the entire world!" Gary informs them both.

"Oh wow thats incredible, a global tourney" Ash responds. Eager to get involved in another competition.

Drew laughs at Ash's.. Ash-like behaviour.

"Don't interupt him, there's a lot to be said" Drew asks the two Lily of the Valley conference competitors politely.

"Anyway, it starts in Kanto, in random towns, and then to other regions, with different rules for each city." Garys explains. " And as well as this, its a team competition with a maximum of four people. This is three normal members and a substitute, the sub can be switched at any time during the tournament."

"I called you as I know you would be a strong competitor and would love to compete, so your invited to join us." Drew tells Ash, but then looks in Pauls direction. " After our battle, I know you have a strong liking for battle, and it was really close, i'd like to have you on our team."

"Im definetly in!" Ash says excitedly, punching the air above him, indicating his enthusiasm.

"Alright, im your fourth member" Paul replies, accepting the position on the team.

So Ash and Paul accepted. The team of four were now allowed to participate in the World Battle Tournament, the WBT. Ash, Drew Gary and Paul were now a team, fighting and preparing to be the strongest group in the world.

"Well, the first location is in Pewter City." Drew Adds. "I recieved my main six pokemon from Hoenn before I came here." Drew then glances to Paul. "And we are asking you to select your main team whilst you are in Sinnoh."

Gary then steps in, talking to the whole group, but mainly at Ash.

"Then we go back to Pallet Town, Kanto. Where me and Ash will select our main pokemon." Gary continues." Then we may be training hard until Pewter City. We will find out what type of battle it is when we reach Pallet Town. Is everyone okay with that?"

A group of nods was given in reply to Gary's question, and Paul walked away to make his final preparations before departing to Kanto.

Paul selected his pokemon, the pokemon that he had the highest expectations that would succeed.

You were allowed to switch pokemon during the competition, however, to become the strongest, they needed to train and focus on the same ones, to make the ultimate team.

After all..

The tournament would be tough, their pokemon would need to be prepeared to face any rule, against any pokemon and win. The four had high hopes, and set to be even stronger than before.

They were aiming to become more powerful then they thought possible.

All limits were going to be broken.

The day continued and the four left the pokemon centre, on their way to the harbour. To get a boat to the Kanto region, more specifically, Pallet Town.

So, the boys are now in the harbour.

"Well, which boat leads us to Pallet Town" Paul asks quickly, wanting to know where they were headed.

"We still have an hour. Chill out" Gary says to the purple haired boy. "For now, lets talk strategy. Which pokemon have you chosen Drew?"

"Well, Roserade, Absol and Flygon are my strongest, and have performed the best so far, I also took masquirain, it is a good aerial pokemon" Drew explains, "I have butterfree too, it has a lot of potential in the right battles."

"Thats only five, we need six overall" Gary informs Drew, subtly stating that Drew needs more pokemon in his arsenal.

"Well, actually Gary, before we met in Hoenn, I was training after the Grand festival."

"Go!" Drew says as he threw the pokeball. Releasing a green and white pokemon.

It materialised more and it stood gracefully, waiting any instructions.

"This is my new pokemon. Gardevoir." Drew introduces.

"Wow, a gardevoir, good job training that" Ash comments, praising Drew on his work getting a strong looking gardevoir.

Drew had shown his team, and called his pokemon back to its sphere. Next up was Paul.

"I took Torterra, Drapion and Weavile" Paul says. informing the trio of his decision. "Magmar is also a strong pokemon that I work well with. Froslass and Honchrow were my last two. I think they balance the types. I can prepare for everything"

Both Drew and Paul had seriously thought about their team, and have six pokemon. But ash was having a problem with who to select for his team.

'Pikachu is definetly on my team. So is charizard. Now it listens and has a good fighting spirit, its a good choice to use.' Ash continued to think about his team. ' Bulbasaur has been a peace maker, and thats because they respect his strength, its coming too, as well as squirtle, a reliable pokemon and we have a good friendship.'

But what about his other two pokemon?

'A pokemon with aerial ability would be good. It will need higher agility, to do a full aerial battle, charizard may not be as helpful if pure power isnt enough. Hmm, maybe noctowl? Physic attacks could be helpful. Wait, swellow! It won against the shiny swellow in an aerial battle, and has had a lot more practice in the air.'

"So Ash, have you decided yours?" Paul asks him bluntly.

He wasn't being rude, and they understood that's his style, thats just how he acts.

"Pikachu, Charizard, Bulbasaur, Squirtle and Swellow" Ash lists to them. "And im still thinking of my last pokemon, I can't decide.."

"Try an ice or dragon type, or a pokemon that could continue to keep your oponent of guard. Like a secret weapon" Paul says Ash, advising him on his fifth pokemon.

The raven haired boy decides to think some more, whilst listening in on Gary's choices.

"Blastoise is my first and strongest, so he is going to be coming with me." Gary informs. "Arcanine, nidoking, umbreon and Dodrio are also coming with me, but I still need one more, i'll see when I get back to the ranch in Pallet."

After seeing who was using which pokemon, they discussed some strategy and general conversation about the tournament.

They head to a ticket booth, to buy tickets for Ash and Paul. Gary and Drew had bought theirs while in Hoenn.

"Two please" Ash asks, then handing the money over to the attendant, who in return gave two tickets to the boy.

"You owe me" Ash said, laughing slightly whilst handing Paul his ticket.

A horn sounded in the background, indicating the boat would be leaving shortly, in around five minutes.

"Well, we better get going." Gary advices as the four walk in the direction of the boat.

The group shows the tickets and board the boat. Ash instantly heads to the side of the ship, hands on the railing and looking out to the ocean.

Gary was soon to join him, gazing over the horizon, wondering how far away their homeland was.

Drew and Paul however, decided to go inside, sitting on chairs by a long window which shows the outside deck, where the other two currently stood.

"Haven't been in Kanto in a while" Ash says to his childhood friend. "I wonder how my mother is.."

"She'll be fine Ash, she doesn't know your coming home, so it will be a good suprise" Gary replies to him.

"I guess your right." Ash responds. "Anyway, do you have any idea on your other pokemon for this new tournament?"

"I was thinking scizor, a strong pokemon with un-usual moves, it could be helpful." Gary concluded. As he also now had his chosen six pokemon.

The boat continued towards the Kanto region. But it would still be many hours before reaching the port.

The sky slowly went dark, and the four were all inside their room.

The room was average. It had two bunk beds, one by the left wall and the other on the right. There were small bed-side cabinets which had a small lamp on it, dimly lit. The room also had four bags scattered on the floor.

Drew had fallen asleep first. Then followed by Paul.

Gary and Ash were the two left awake.

"Ash? Do you have the other part of that pokeball?" Gary asks him.

"Yeah, I got it in my bag, hasn't left me since. A good memory." Ash replies quietly.

A smile appears on Gary's face.

"Lets beat this competition" Gary says enthusiastically to Ash.

"Right" Ash says while yawning. "Ill see you in the morning"

"Cool, night Ashy-boy" Gary replies whilst grinning.

An annoyed groan was given from Ash.

"Was that really Necessary!?" Ash responds.

A/N: So, all the information is out about the World Battle Tournament! Will Ash figure out his last pokemon? Will they stand a chance in the WBT? To find out.. Keep reading!


	5. Departures

The Guys - Chapter 5

Preparation

The day had started and the four were awake, enjoying the relaxation they could have on the boat, before it reached its port in 2 hours time.

The next topic that they were wondering about was training. How would they be able to get stronger?

"For now, do what we ussually do, as its gotten us all this far." Ash says. "Don't fix what isn't broken, we just need to improve it slightly."

"But what could make our pokemon reach even greater levels of power?" Gary wonders aloud.

However, the group was silent, as no-one could figure the answer.

"Im not sure, so lets get to a stronger level first, and see what the competition is like in Pewter City." Paul suggests.

A group of nods were given, and they all went about feeding their pokemon, and preparing to disembark from the ship.

The boat was now at the port. And a voice was echoed through the ship.

'We have reached our destination, please exit the boat with all your belongings with you'

"Alright!" Ash cheers, now running to leave the ship. "Lets go pikachu!"

Ash had run towards his house, a few streets away from the small port in the town.

"Lets go see gramps" Gary says. "Its where my pokemon are too"

Paul and Drew agree, and head towards the lab with Gary, to select the latters pokemon, which he will train for the World Battle Tournament.

The weather was adequate. There was a few clouds in the sky, but no sign of rain, and the sun was shinning, but there wasn't a high temperature.

The ranch was full of activity, with the mixture of Ash's and Gary's pokemon running around outside, having a normal day.

But a select few of the pokemon got more active when they saw a trio of people enter the ranch, as the boys entered through the picket fence gate.

"Hey guys, we're entering a new tournament, and we need to be the best of the best, strongest in the world!" Gary says, encouraging his team. "Think we can do it?"

A group of cheers was heard from his pokemon, signifying a yes, and they were willing to try and achieve world class status.

However, there was only three of the four together at the moment. The other was somewhere else in Pallet Town.

"Hey, im home!" Ash calls, as he opens the door and walks inside, to be greeted by his mother.

"Ash, your back!" Delia exclaims happily, then hugging him tightly, showing her happiness to have him back.

"Yeah, its good to be back in Kanto, I only came to see if your okay, im here for a quick visit, Im not here for dinner" Ash replies. "Oh, i'd better get going to professor Oaks, I think thats where Gary and the others are."

Ash leaves his house, and walks up the curved, stone stairway to the enterance to the lab.

He opens the door, and moves through the lab, and walks to the back door, where there is a field beyond the window which seems to go on for miles.

He walks onto the grass and hears a voice call to him.

"Ash, over here." Drew yells.

"Right!" Ash responds, walking over to his friends.

Many pokemon come running towards the trainer. They all crowd around him and cheer for his return.

"Hey guys, its great to see you, we are entering a huge tournament. And I was thinking who to choose, and apart from pikachu, I need 5 more pokemon, and i've thought carefully, and if you haven't been chosen, you might be later on, so don't be dis-hearted." Ash informs.

"I've chosen swellow, bulbasaur, squirtle and charizard" Ash announces.

Swellow chirps excitedly, anticipating the many battles it may encounter trying to win the tournament.

Bulbasaur wasn't as excited as swellow, for an unknown reason. It would love to battle, but it has duty's elsewhere.

"Hello Ash." A new voice says. "I hate to say this, but we urgently need bulbasuar here, to stop the others from arguing with eachother, so it cannot be in your main team."

The voice turned out to be Pr. Oak, informing him about the need of Bulbasuar to stay at the ranch area.

'So thats why bulbasuar didn't seem happy...he can't come with us' Ash thought sadly.

"Oh.. Sorry bulbasaur.." Ash stated quietly.

"Also, Gary spoke with me yesterday, informing me about getting in touch with Liza and the squirtle squad, to transport them over here." The professor responds. "Charizard is flying over as we speak. But squirtle is needed to prevent the fires, and is enjoying its time with the squirtle squad.

"Well, at least squirtle has new friends now..." Ash said with his hat covering his eyes, with no tone in its voice. Its hard to realise a pokemon may have moved on after a few years...

Gary and Drew had sympathy towards Ash, trying to understand the feeling he could be going through.

But Ash brought his back up.

And he smiled.

"So." Ash said excitedly. "We have pikachu?"

Pikachu said its name proudly.

"Swellow, you in?" Ash asks.

A chirp is heard from swellow. 'All the way!"

"And Charizard?" Ash thought aloud.

A rour was heard from the sky, and they turned around to see an orange dragon flying towards them, then slowly descending, landing in front of them.

He roared again. 'Im ready to fight!"

"Great!" Ash replied.

Bulbasaur looked down to the ground, un-happy about its duties here.

Being un-able to fight...

Not being able to help his trainer...

The person it respected..

The trainer that had helped him get stronger, and gain confidence..

And be proud of who it is now...

"Since bulbasaur and squirtle can't make it.." Ash trailed off. "Sceptile!"

The Grass-type evolution cheered its name, glad it was chosen to enter a tough tournament.

A yell was heard from a water pokemon in the group, who then flexed its muscles, then balled a fist, grinning forward in its signature pose.

"Buizel? You want to try?" Ash asks.

A nod was given to the trainer.

"Alright, buizel, your number five!" The trainer says happily.

'Still one more..' Ash thought. 'Ill get the last another time, I can't rush this decision.'

"Well, Im ready with these, ill get the sixth later" Ash informs the others.

"Very well" The professor responds. " I shall get those pokeballs for you Ash, shall I take your ones from Sinnoh?"

"Oh sure, thanks" Ash replies, grateful for him looking after his new pokemon.

Ash hands him the pokeballs. And the proffesor takes them inside. Ash guessed he was probably studying them, had he seen a lot of Sinnoh pokemon?

"Im going to head inside and get my pokeballs, and then we will be on our way?" Gary asks them.

"Sound good, we need to get to Pewter as soon as we can" Paul states, finally joining the conversation.

Some of the pokemon had walked away, heading to do what they do on a daily basis. Corphish went to the pond. Torterra was relaxing in the shade. And the tauros were still running endlessly.

Bulbasaur was suprised they were leaving so soon. Just when he had seen his trainer again, it was only for a few moments, then he was gone.

The bulb pokemon re-thought about the good ol' days, when it was on Ash's main team, fighting to help his trainer, and being valuable to others.

Now all the grass pokemon does is stop petty arguements...

The bulb pokemon looked down in sadness again.

"Well then, when Gary gets back, we should head to Viridian city, then make our way to Pewter." Ash says. "We won't make Viridian in one night, but we could get over halfway before night-fall"

'Leaving already..' The bulb thought. 'I guess it can't be helped'

But then, something clicked inside bulbasaur. And it got upset.

"Bulba!" It yells. "Bulbasaur!"

No one needed to know what it was saying, the trio thought it was angry.

But all they saw was a bulbasaur running further and further away.

Ash's eyes widen as it jumps through the fence, and slowly out of sight.

"No!" Ash yells, extending his hand as if it could stop it running away.

There was a silence.

"No! Bulbasaur!" Ash exclaimed loudly, breaking the silence with a voice of desperation, then dropping to his knee's.

His pokemon left him..

Gary and Pr. Oak had come out of the lab after hearing the noise.

"I got my pokemon." Gary said. "What happened out here?" He asked, refering to the sad boy on his knee's, looking at the ground.

Drew walked up to Gary and whispered in his ear. "Bulbasaur ran away"

"Oh, thats terrible." Gary said sadly, giving a sympathetic smile towards his friend.

Paul didn't want to be the one to say this, but if he didn't, no one would have.

"Ash, I know this must be hard for you" Paul began. "But we need to get going. Do it for the rest of us."

"Ill try bu-" Ash got interupted.

"For bulbasaur" Paul said softly.

'For bulbasaur?' Ash thought. 'Oh, he wanted to come along so badly, but couldn't. We'll win this for him, and make it proud'

Ash stood up, and held his head high.

"For bulbasaur" Ash repeated, nodding his head.

Ash and Gary recalled their pokemon and left the ranch.

The day went on, and the four had left the small town of Pallet and began walking to their next stop, Viridian City. They now had all their pokemon, except Ash's last pokemon. But there was only one pokemon on Ash's mind, and that was bulbasaur.

The other three understood that, and kept silent, letting Ash remember all the good memories with his first grass type.

Paul and Gary were talking quietly at the back, talking about their technique's, and how they got their pokemon to where they are today.

Drew however, was thinking slightly differently.

'After contests, I need to focus on increasing my power. They were mainly agility, but strength is more important now than never. Due to winning the Kanto grand festival, im allowed to enter the WBT, but it will be like a league battle, not contest. Ill really need to improve my strength to catch up to the other three.'

He may have defeated Paul, but he used a higher ammount of attacks at the beggining of the battle, but still drawing or a close win. And there will be toughter oponents out there.

Paul may have one if he used more attacks, but the outcome was Drew's victory, so more than a roserade's determination will be needed to get through the trainers in the WBT.

The sky grew dark and the day was coming to an end.

"Ash, Drew, we are stopping here tonight" Gary says.

Drew nods in reply, and taps Ash's shoulder, waking him up from his dazed state, then telling him about preparing to sleep, and travelling again tomorrow.

The campfire was lit and the four trainers were in their sleeping bags. All but one was asleep.

It was Ash.

However, no matter how much is on one's mind, you would fall asleep after so much travelling, after losing a lot of energy walking long distances.

And so, after feeling pikachu nuzzle into his hand, he had a smile of comfort on his face and fell asleep.

'I know you would never leave.. Pikachu'

A/N: A bit sad this chapter, but hope you enjoyed it, thanks for reading.


	6. An Enemy Appears

_The Guys Chapter 6_

_An enemy approaches_

After a bad day yesterday, the group continued to think about the tournament. This would hopefully take Ash's mind away from yesterdays events.

For now, it was too early to train, and Drew had just woke up, so they were preparing breakfast, then heading to Viridian City.

"So whats our team called?" Paul asks curiously.

No one had an answer to that. What would their name be for the tornament?

"The fantastic four?" Gary replies, thinking of a random suggestion.

Paul scrunched his face. Guess that was a no.

"Lets think, rather than saying them outloud, and we will see what are the best one's we have."Drew suggests.

Meanwhile, Ash was walking ahead of the group, not involved in the current conversation, with a blank expression on his face.

'So, first we go to Viridian City... I gotta focus, this tournament seems like something ive never faced before, what is a team tournament? Being part of a team, with more people relying on my skill as a trainer.' Ash thought to himself.'But.. I can't focus after what happened. Squirtle can't come back from the Squirtle squad, and bulbasaur ran away, I can't concentrate... What do I do?'

Ash had a pained expression on his face, wondering what he should do next.

"Quad something?" Drew asks, out of ideas.

"Yeah, that sounds cool, Quadfighters?" Gary replies.

There was a moment of silence, as thoughts entered the three, thinking of what the teams name could be, and after that was done, they were an official team and could focus all their energy on training.

"Quadwinners, Quadtrainers, Quadp-" Paul lists, but gets interupted by another member.

"Gary and the other three" Says Gary whilst laughing.

The laugh made the others realise he wasn't serious, and it helped lighten the mood slightly, it was getting a bit intense, and nothing constructive would be done under pressure.

This was good, over the past few days, they had been thinking seriously, about who to pick, the level of competition, how to train, it was all slowly getting too stressed, which never leads to anything good.

"Catalyst." Ash says, speaking his first few words of the day, finally talking to the others.

"Catalyst?" Paul replies, curious as to why that should be the name of their team.

"Like Gary said" Ash started to explain. "We need to find that thing to make our pokemon get to the next level, we would be the catalyst."

Gary smiled. Drew nodded. And even Paul shook his head in understanding.

"The Catalysts" Gary concludes, making his hand into a fist, showing the enthusiasm.

"Thats fine" Paul agrees.

"Yeah, its a cool name too" Drew adds in.

After that, the day slowly moves on, as they get closer to their destintion, Pewter City.

However, tonight, they would be stopping at Viridian first, before reaching Pewter City in a few days time.

"Well, now we have the details, all we need to do is submit them!" Gary informs, happy about all the documented information is done, and that they can focus on the main part of the reason they are entered in the tournament.

To become the best.

"Then lets train?" Paul asks suggestively.

Everyone was in a positive mind set now that things were slowly coming together, even Ash had a smile on his face about the new World Battle Tournament.

"Sure, you can battle me" Ash replies, smiling and with a gaze of determination.

"No way!" Both Drew and Gary exclaim together. "I want to battle too!"

Paul smirked. He had an idea.

"Then join us, we will not be too brutal, but we need to prepare for anything. A four-way free for all." The purple haired trainer concludes.

No words were said. But they agreed as they walked over and got into their usual stance.

"Honchcrow" Paul calls as he launches the pokeball into the air. "Standby for battle!"

"Flygon, fly high!" Drew commands as flygon enters the field, taking its position in the sky.

"Two flying huh?" Ash thought aloud. "Swellow, I choose you!"

A pokeball openes in the air, and releases a bird pokemon with a main dark blue feather colour with patches of red on its wings and front.

Gary had just realised something, after all the others had selected their pokemon.

He has no pokemon that can fly.

'Oh no, I may need a flying type in future, but who would be best for now?' Gary thought quickly, hoping to thing of an idea.

"Scizor!" Gary calls.

The red steel and bug pokemon stood strong, with its armor-like body shining slightly from the suns light, glaring forward, not focusing on a single enemy.

This was an all out battle, anything can happen at any time.

But it was ready.

"Swellow!" Ash commands. "Aerial ace flygon"

Ashs pokemon glides quickly through the air, heading straight towards Flygon at a fast speed.

"Flygon, defend!" Drew instructs. "Use dragon breath!"

"Honchcrow, air slash on swellow" Paul states calmly.

"Join in scizor" Gary adds. "Use swift"

The three attacks were heading in the attackers direction, if this hit, this would cause serious damage to the bird pokemon.

"Double team!" Ash said, responding quickly to the danger.

Swellow makes copies of itself, and randomly appear around the battlefield, and luckily, it got away from the danger as a copy made from double team took the hit, rather than itself.

After the 3 attacks collided, smoke consumed the area, but after a few moments it passed and swellow was safe from harm.

However, another pokemon had appeared into the mix.

The pokemon looked fiece as its small fangs lit up in the daylight, it was standing tall, glaring in the air with its sharp eyes. Its purple body in battle position, waiting to attack.

It was a garchomp.

"Giga impact!" A mysterious voice commanded.

Paul was the first to react to the sudden intruder.

"Honchrow." Paul says quickly. "Return now!"

A red light engulfs his pokemon as it returns back to its pokeball, safe from harm.

However, Drew and Ash on the other side of the field, had not prepared for such a scenario.

The giga impact hit hard on flygon and swellow, causing massive damage to their aerial pokemon, which had now fallen to the ground after sustaining all the damage from the land shark.

"Swellow" Ash yells, running over to his pokemons side.

Ash gets to his knees and tries to support his pokemon, before looking up with a look of pure rage at who-ever did this to his pokemon.

"Flygon!" Drew exclaims, him too running to his pokemons aid.

Scizor was the only one left standing out of the four.

Gary looked bewildered at the current events. Then quickly realising that the land shark was slowly retreating.

"After him scizor." Gary instructs while running towards the escaping pokemon. "Swift, lets go!"

Stars are aimed towards garchomp from scizors pincers at a fast speed.

"Garchomp, return." The same mysterious voice states calmly, retuning it to its ball.

"No wait!" Gary yells. "Come back and fight me!"

A chuckle was heard from the surrounding area, not sure on its exact location.

"We will fight, meet us at the World Battle Tournament!" The voice says cooly. "Lets see if you have what it takes, ive heard a lot, but after today, im not impressed!"

The four boys seemed shocked at what was happening. A group from the WBT have picked them out? Was it revenge for something? Have they met before?

So many questions needed answering, and they would be answered when the time comes.

"Guys, we need to get swellow to a pokemon centre" Ash says, with a tone of worry in his voice.

"Yeah, flygon is in bad shape too" Drew replies, returning his dragon to its pokeball.

Ash and Gary follow suit, returning their pokemon back to their red and white sphere's, before slowly heading to the pokemon centre, to heal after that encounter.

The four hear that same voice echo around them.

"We are the Shadow Blades, we are waiting to defeat you at the WBT!"

- Well, I hope that made things a bit more interesting, will the Catalysts be ready for this new team, who seem to know them? Keep reading to find out!-


	7. Recovering

The Guys Chapter 7

* * *

The day was sad, the air seemed stale, and the four were on looking their injured pokémon and all confiding in themselves, trying to think positively, but nothing was coming to mind.

Ash, Gary, Drew and Paul were all currently in the Pokémon Centre, staring through a glass wall to the emergency room.

Paul was recalling the event, with no real emotion shown on his face, he wore a blank expression.

Gary was just standing to the right of the Sinnoh native with a look of sadness, and a slight look of weakness.

He was remembering the last part of the encounter with the Shadow Blades, the group who mysteriously knew Gary and the others, and by the looks of things, they had revenge, or some form of hatred towards them.

But more specifically, he was recalling the garchomp attack. He was unable to defend his friends or even catch the pokémon to try and support his friends.

* * *

Gary P.O.V

I can't believe I failed them; I was unable to fight the dragon. My pokémon couldn't even catch up, or defend itself. If something happens again like that, and if I'm unable to do anything, what other pokémon would be severely hurt. I can't let that happen, two pokémon is too many! No more of our team will be injured because of them!

I grit my teeth, and scrunched my fists. I'm just so angry! How dare they do that!

"Gary" A calm voice awoke me from my violent thoughts. I looked to the owner of the voice.

It was Drew.

"It wasn't your fault" He says to me. "Ash and I should've been able to defend ourselves, at least scizor and honchcrow are okay"

I knew he was right, but still… I should've been able to help him.

"He's right" Ash joins in, with a sad tone? "It's important to remember swellow and flygons injuries, rather than the attacker; we can deal with them later."

"I guess that makes sense" I reply to them slowly, taking in all the information. "I really hope they get better soon"

I heard Paul call my name, I wonder what he wants?

I walk over to him and he pulls out a pokeball.

Why is he getting that out? What's going on?

"You want to be stronger right?" He tells me, rather than an asking tone. It seemed more of a statement.

"Sure?" I question, not sure where he is going with this conversation.

"Then let's battle" He responds.

For the first time in a few hours, I smiled; maybe he felt the same way. Either way, I guess this helps both of us, let's do this for Ash and Drew.

We walked outside of the pokémon Centre, and found an area to battle.

"Umbreon" I shout, whilst finding it's pokeball on my belt, then launching it into the air.

This should be fun.

I see him call out his honchrow, time to get to work!

* * *

Narrative

Ash saw them leave and smile. Paul has a nice side to him, he just covers it up.

They didn't leave on purpose, their hearts are in the right place, so the duo of Ash and Drew let them go.

Drew sent Ash a sad smile.

"Swellow is tough, it will be fine" Drew says confidently, but sadness was still evident in the tone of his voice.

"Same goes for flygon" Ash responds happily, trying to create some morale between them. "They will be fine"

"Ash and Drew" A light voice is heard.

A woman was standing by the door of the emergency room, looking at them both with a worried look on her face. It was nurse Joy.

The worried look on the nurses' face made the two young both give a nervous glance towards each other.

"Flygon and swellow are seriously injured, they might make it, but I'm not sure as to when, it could be a months' time." She says "Swellows injury seemed more serious, and flygon may only take a couple of weeks, its part dragon type must have had more resistance"

* * *

Ash POV

I can't believe things turn out like this, swellow might not make it? Because of whom it is, because of some type advantage! This is ridiculous, no pokémon should be expected to survive that attack, it was so un-expected… I had my guard down…

And it almost cost swellow's health. All of it is my mistake!

* * *

Narrative

Ash shut his eyes, preventing any possible tears from falling, but not from sadness, he seemed… angry.

The Kanto native ran from the pokémon Centre, and ran past the battlefield, running past Gary, then Paul.

He just kept running.

Running and running until he hit his limit, he started to slow, but endured the pain, he wanted to just keep running.

Ash winced and hit the side of a tree stump with his foot. But the boy had no energy left, he just fell to the ground. He rolled over onto his back and looked at his current surroundings. He was in the forest which is located in the gap between Pewter and Viridian City.

The trees had a dark green look and the now orange, evening sun was slowly making its descent to disappear under the horizon, but the majority was unable to be seen due to the hanging branches and leaves, blocking a lot of the view.

But what was most important to Ash was the tranquility, it was calm and quiet, he could re-collect his thoughts and focus on what to do next.

'Swellow is injured and may not make it into the tournament. I don't want to leave It behind as it doesn't deserve what happened, it wanted to be here, I can't remove him from my team, I want swellow to have a spot to return to'

Ash was thinking hard, it was a tough decision. Swellow's emotions, or the victory with a group of friends?

But Ash smiled, realizing what he had to do and turned to look at his best friend, the yellow mouse pokémon that would never leave him if he ran away or lost his sight on what's important, pikachu will always be there.

Ash smiled at this.

'There are still 4 Pokémon on my team with full health, ill beat the tournament with 4!'

Ash told his idea to the mouse pokémon, and the electric pocket monster just sparked its cheeks and took a battle stance.

Ash was remembering what his teammates said to him, the people he would have to rely on in their quest to be number one.

_But what could make our pokémon reach even greater levels of power?_

It was Gary who said those words, when they were walking here, how to get stronger.

'That's why we became the catalysts, we wanted to break the limits and be the first to make the step towards ultimate strength, but we will need a move, something to counter a powerful move like giga impact or hyper beam'

Ash sat on the ground and continued to think, a move to deflect anything… Protect wouldn't be good, and the pokémon can't move whilst inside the protective barrier.

A move…

A special move…

'A special move?' Ash thought to himself. 'Yeah! A move combined to make the battle go in your favor. It would be unpredictable, powerful and strategic.'

Ash had been sitting there for half an hour, thinking of what to do.

Ash whispered to pikachu about his idea, and pikachu nodded in confirmation, responding to its trainer that it likes the idea.

"Alright then, let's get to it!"

Ash and pikachu stay in the forest, practicing on this new idea created from pure imagination, creativity, and the power of the trainer's pokémon.

-Mean While-

"Great work Umbreon" Gary praises, returning his Eevee evolution to its pokeball.

The battle was at a stalemate, both decided to call of the battle before one got too injured.

"Nice work" Paul says to his flying type, recalling it into its red and white sphere.

Drew walks outside with his hands in his pockets, getting some fresh air after being cooped up inside the pokémon Centre for so long.

"Is Ash back yet?" The green haired boy asks the duo.

"No" Gary replies calmly "Not yet"

"I think he just needs a day to get his head around things, first bulbasaur, and now swellow, things aren't going his way" Paul informs "But he doesn't run when his friends need him, and he knows that. He will be back"

Gary and Drew were surprised at Paul's words. One, that was really deep and full of understanding for someone like Paul to say, and two, he actually said more than one sentence in sequence.

But they nodded their heads at the Sinnoh native's words, and understood that Ash would indeed return to them.

They just had to wait until he decided to come back, before they could go to the hosting city tomorrow, it should only take a day to get there as Viridian is a lot closer to Pewter than to Pallet.

"Is there something we can do whilst we wait?" Gary asks his teammates.

"Not really" Paul replies "It's getting dark, let's just get an early night, wait for Ash and then head out for Pewter City tomorrow."

-Back with Ash-

"If we can control that, I think we will be finally getting a high level of power" Ash says excitedly.

"Pika" A worn out pikachu chirps, tired after training and using a lot of its power and energy.

"You did well today buddy" Ash replies whilst slowly heading back to the Centre to meet his friends.

'If pikachu can do it, I'm hoping my others can too'

Ash grins to himself after learning a new move for his battles with his trusted partner.

A special move!

-IMPORTANT NOTICE-

This isn't really a spoiler, as I'm guessing you guys know what a special move is, it's like Ash's countershield in the Anime, using moves in a different way. I REALLY need to know if you guys hate the idea, if it seems bad ill delete it as it may ruin the story or whatever, but I really need to know if the special moves are a good idea for the story, if not ill update and remove the idea, thanks for reading


	8. Bulbasaur, Charizard and Three Fearow

The Guys chapter 8

I was slowly walking back to the others at the pokémon Centre with pikachu walking beside me at the same speed, he was tired and exhausted from the training we had just done, doing multiple moves simultaneously will drain energy of even the strongest pokémon.

"FEAAARRR" A voice echoed through the forest.

Curiosity and wonder filled my body as I called to my partner.

"Pikachu" I exclaimed quickly, and began to run in that direction.

I ran at full speed and I saw pikachu run off in-front of me at a much quicker pace.

I watched the scene unfold as a bulbasaur is getting attacked by multiple fearow…

My intincts took over and I begin to command my starter pokemon.

"Thunderbolt the one on the left" I commanded.

Pikachu quickly launched into action and zapped one of the three fearows with a powerful thunderbolt, making it fly away, but not for long, it slowly turned around and headed towards us again, preparing an aerial ace.

"Bulbasaur" It said angrily, looking over at me, clearly unhappy about our interference.

I was confused, I was helping it, and now it is angry at me? This is one stubborn bulbasaur…

The bulbasaur released its vines and whipped one of the spearow.

"Wait a minute…" I said to myself slowly, as information began entering my mind. "That bulbasaur…"

I cannot let it get away, it might just run away again, no way is that happening, I need to end this now!

"Alright pikachu, lets wipe them both out" I instructed him.

"Special move!" I yelled loudly.

"Pika!" Pikachu responded eagerly.

I observed the mastery we created mere minutes ago. Pikachu's tail glowed silver and gold. Pikachu flipped its body and almost hit the leader fearow.

I grit my teeth, pikachu span to fiercely, it span out of control… and hit the ground, sliding across the ground with dust arising.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

It nodded at me and stood back up.

Bulbasaur, on my right, continued whipping that fearow, and the flying pokemon eventually gave up and retreated for a short ammount of time, flying higher into the air.

I needed to know if bulbasaur was still my friend.

"Pikachu use thunderbolt" I commanded, then looking at my first grass type pokemon. "Bulbasaur use razor leaf!"

Pikachu launched volts of electricity, aiming directly for the opponent, but bulbasaur didn't make a move.

Please… Bulbasaur…

Bulbasaur closed its eyes and walked a few steps forward, away from us.

I said razor leaf.

It released vine whip.

I grit my teeth, I know this is my bulbasuar... Why wont you listen!

The aerial ace hit pikachu head on, making it fall yet again to the ground.

I look back over th bulbasaur, who is now beng attacked by three fearow, but I knew bulbasaur could only attack one at a time.

"Pikachu, quick attack!" I exclaim, getting pikachu back in the battle.

"Now, I choose you, charizard!" I called.

I needed the firepower, and charizard and bulbasaur are good friends, who both travelled around Kanto and parts of Johto with me, and they both fought with me to defeat Brandon.

"Charizard, flame thrower, then use steel wing" I orderend as my fire flying type.

Charizard released a flame upon the fearow, and before they could recover, it starter charged in towards them, smacking them to the ground with it's powerful steel wing, and now it was time to finish this and get outta here!

"Pikachu, use thunder!" I added, trying to finish off the powerful fearow.

But we needed a bit more... I looked towards bulbasaur.

"Razor leaf, full power" I asked. "I know you can do this, your strong, and calm until the end, you have the power to finish this!"

I stepped back, bulbasaurs eyes looked firece and determined, then it looked the enemy fearow in the eye.

I stepped back once more as it yelled its name and thousands of leaves ejected from its bulb.

All I could do was gasp and be in awe of its power.

"That's leaf storm!" I yell as the leaves engulfed fearow and caused a shocking ammount of damage to the wild pokemon.

Pikachu took over as I walked to bulbasaur, zapping the remaining pokemon with volts of electricity.

"Great job, Bulbasaur" I say to it and bend town to pet his head.

I look it in the eye.

"Want to travel with us?" I ask politely, with an almost desperate look in the eye.

'Please don't run away again' I thought to myself.

I was surprised, in a good way, ecstatic even, he nodded his head towards me and eagerly jumped up onto my shoulder.

"Bulba!" It said happily.

I took that as a yes, and pet its head, waiting for pikachu to come over to us.

Charizard took that as a sign that the battle was over, and he descended down to us.

I couldn't decipher what they were saying in their poke-language, but they all seemed really happy, even though charizard didn't show it as much as the other two, I just know he is happy bulbasaur is back.

I'm happy too, I have three of my original pokemon with me, and the ones who started with me, and have grown from the same point I did.

Me.

Pikachu.

Charizard.

And now… Bulbasaur.

I walked back to the three, ready to see swellow.

Ready for the new tournament.

Ready to settle the score with the Shadow Blades.

And nothing will stop me!

Narrative

Ash, bulbasaur, charizard and pikachu were back in town, heading to the pokemon center.

Paul was outside, lying on the grass calmly with his eyes closed, collecting his thoughts.

Ash noticed him and was about to open his mouth to speak, but decided against it, returning the huge charizard and continued through the glass automatic doors to greet Nurse Joy.

"Hello again, Nurse Joy" Ash motioned to his pokemon before speaking again. "Would you be able to heal my two pokemon?"

"Yes certainly." The Nurse replied before taking the two pokemon from Ash's possession and taking them to the medical wing.

Ash knew he was ready to view his beaten up pokemon, and walked to the right, walking down the corridor Nurse Joy had walked down.

"Ash" Two voices called.

"Oh, hey guys" Ash replied, walking to them and standing beside them.

"Are you gonna be okay?" Gary was the first to speak, starting a conversation.

"I will be fine" Ash answered, giving the other Pallet boy a smile.

Gary nodded in acceptance.

"How is flygon, and swellow?" Ash asked curiously, looking through the clear window.

"I'll be able to take Flygon when we choose to leave the center." Drew smiled ever so slightly. "But swellow will need to stay here for another day or two, and then it will be okay, and apparently, swellow will be okay to compete in the final few rounds of the tournament.

"Alright then, I understand, we will have to train until then, we can't waste any more time" Ash stated quickly. "A few of my pokemon must be pretty eager, anyone wanna be their opponent?"

"I will, I need to get my mind away from flygon anyway, I need to stop worrying and focus, im ready Ketchum!" Drew smiled, pulling a pokemon from his belt.

Ash grinned, and then quickly ran from the building, to a battle arena, the same in which Paul and Gary were battling on.

"Buizel, sceptile!" Ash yelled, launching the two pokeballs high into the sky, releasing the remaining two pokemon in his arsenal. However a third figure materialized, and roared.

The final evolution starter yelled loudly, putting it's signature twig into its mouth, and stading in a strong stance.

Buizel stood with its arms crossed next to the grass type. (A/N: These guys finaly make it into the story ^.^)

"I'll face your charizard!" Drew exclaimed.

Ash returned both sceptile and buizel, preparing to battle with charizard, one of Ash's top 3 mot powerful, most likely taking the second spot, behind, or maybe even equal to the most powerful, pikachu.

"Gardevoir" Drew announced. "Time to shine"

The pokemon materialized and stood elegantly, in contrast to the brute force shown by charizard, it seemed it would be precision versus power.

"Begin" Gary announced, not taking a full role of referee, but someone needed to say start.

"Flamethrower" Ash stated.

"Protect"

Charizard released its flames quickly towards the physic type.

An orb appeared around the latter, protecting it from harm, thus making the fire attack do no damage.

It was quiet for a while, both thinking of ideas.

"Dragon breath" Ash commanded.

The flame was replaced by a dark purple substance, which was aimed directly at the opposing gardevoir.

"Double team" Drew stated again, dodging effectively.

The attack hit a clone of gardevoir, again making one off charizard's attacks useless.

'It seems he is planning on dodging everything, we need to make our attacks hit!' Ash thought quickly, trying to keep the game level, even though he was slowly losing control.

"Psychic!" Drew commanded.

A pink aura surrounded the fire dragon (looks, not type, dont review or pm about it -.- ) and caused the pokemon to come crashing to the ground.

"Fire a psybeam!" Drew continued, bombarding Ash's pokemon with attacks.

"Charizard!" Ash called desperately, yelling its signature attack. "Flamethrower!"

The fire pokemon stood up slowly, launching flames at the opposing pokemon.

"Send it back with your Psychic gardevoir" Drew instructed, causing the flames to turn into charizards direction.

"Into the air charizard" Ash exclaimed quickly, improvising on his next move.

Charizard escaped the main blow, and the bottom of his tail got hit by the attack, but due to his tail covered in flames anyway, he felt no damage and had a small boost of energy.

"Flamethrower once more!" Ash repeated.

Charizard looked hesitant, but fired the flames anyway.

"Once more gardevoir, send it back!"

"I learn from my mistakes Drew!" Ash grinned. "Spin, and use your steel wing!"

Charizard nodded quickly, its wings glowing white and closed its two wings, covering itself in an almost white cocoon, spiraling into the flames.

Drew turned his head slightly, a steel move will be beaten by fire, and the psychic flamethrower will win.

However, unfortunately for Drew, he was half correct.

The flames scorched the wings, and set the wings on fire.

But that didn't stop the mighty charizard, which slammed into the gardevoir with the torching flames, causing major damage to Drew's pokemon.

"Good job buddy" Ash stated to his pokemon.

"Chhaaaarr" The beast roared in response, releasing a flamethrower into the sky.

"Let's stop there, sound good" Gary asked.

"Sure, I don't mind, gardevoir is pretty tired anyway." Drew noted, returning the pokemon to its pokeball.

"Alright, return for now, charizard" Ash stated, copying Drew's actions, returning charizrd to its red and white sphere.

"Not bad" A voice acknowledged.

"Oh, hey Paul" Drew answered.

Paul nodded in response, turning and walked inside.

The trio of Gary, Drew and Ash followed the Sinnoh Native back into the pokemon center.

"Oh, Ash" Nurse Joy smiled as the four entered. "Pikachu and bulbasaur are all fine and healthy, you may take them back now"

As she said this, the two pokemon jumped from the desk and walked to Ash's side.

"Oh, Ashy-boy is that who I think it is" Gary asked, kneeling to pet the grass type.

"You bet, I met him in the forest, being attacked by some fearow" Ash explained. "I helped out bulbasaur, and decided to join us. Bulbasuar didn't listen at first, but then decided to listen and had a new move, leaf storm!"

They all smiled.

Things were finally looking up.

A/N: A positive ending, finally, couldn't leave bulbasaur out, so he is back! Wait til next chapter to see him, and the left out pokemon in action in the next chapter!

Stay tuned for Chapter 9: Swellow returns!


End file.
